Gold Medalist Huish Has Record Cleared of Vandalism Conviction

Olympic gold-medal archer Justin Huish has sought and won a judge's order erasing from his record all traces of a 3-year-old conviction for spray-painting the property of an African American couple whose mailbox and driveway were initialed with the letters "KKK."

Municipal Court Judge Arthur Gutierrez agreed to expunge the September 1993 conviction from Huish's court file and excuse him from probation one month before the probation was to expire anyway.

Ventura County prosecutors agreed with the order, which Gutierrez handed down Thursday.

"It was a very serious crime," Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Harman said. "But there have been no repeats of it since he was put on probation. It seems like he's turned his life around in a good way, so it just seemed appropriate in this case."

Huish, his parents and his attorney could not be reached Friday for comment.

The 21-year-old Simi Valley archer won two gold medals in Atlanta last month, almost three years after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor vandalism.

The victim of the crime, sales analyst Perry Sanders, has forgiven Huish, calling the spray-paint attack a stupid mistake.